i2i New York goes to Istanbul

Istanbul, formerly Constantinople in Ancient Byzantium, is the largest city and seaport in Turkey. Located on a hilly triangular peninsula at the entrance of the Black Sea, it lies on either side of the Bosphorous Strait and is the only city located in both Europe and Asia.

It is a city made famous by history. Its strategic location made it into a city of desire by numerous conquerors and rulers. In 324 AD, Constantine I made it his capital, and renamed it Constantinople. It became an ecclesiastical center of Christendom in 330 AD. During the 6th to 13th century, it was frequently besieged by Russians, Arabs, Bulgars and Persians which led to the city’s capture of the armies of the Fourth Crusade in 1203 AD. It fell under the Ottoman rule and was made capital of the empire. In 1930, Constatinople was renamed Istanbul.

So it was a delight for the i2i New York team to do its latest pictorial in this city of great historical interest. Before gearing up for the pictorial, the whole team visited Constatine’s Palace, the Underground Palace, ancient Christian churches and the Hagia, the biggest mosque in the city. They also treated themselves to some kebab along the side streets.

The kebab treat led to the start of the pictorial. The owners of the stall were two men named Khudair and Nassir. One of them asked us where we got our sunglasses, which gave our stylist an idea. Both men were delighted to don the glasses and posed gamely for us. They loved the glasses so much that they wore it the whole day while hawking their kebab to other customers.

In another corner, we asked two students, Pravda and Fatima, to wear our glasses for the pictorial. The two willingly posed. Pravda even asked if she could keep the glasses. Fatima informed us that it is rare to find sunglasses as stylish as ours in Istanbul.

Then off to the department store we went, and our purchase of towels led to another pictorial as our stylist asked the sales person to try on our eyewear. He got the eyewear and we left the store with a nice picture and a discount.

We continued on going around the city and asking people to wear i2i sunglasses. It became such a curiosity to some that they started volunteering to wear our shades and to pose for us. Even our tourist guide Yasmeen gamely posed.

Our nights in Instanbul were often spent in a small café near our hotel.

On our last night, we asked Saleem, our favorite waiter, and Omar, the café owner, to let us take their pictures. After that Omar gave us drinks on the house and there was lots of dancing afterwards. It was the best night in Istanbul.

The beauty of Istanbul was matched by the beauty of its people. It was a good thing we had them all documented in pictures–wearing i2i New York eyewear!